The mystery of . . .

Clearly something was up here. We are still trying to piece this together. On the surface, it looks like a decent move, but . . .

. . . when a guy is out of coaching for his entire late 30’s, from 36-40, prime years in that profession, it’s a head-scratcher.

The Jets new quarterback coach, Jeremy Bates, last coached in 2012, as the QB coach of the Chicago Bears. That doesn’t mean he is a bad coach, but there has got to be back story here.

The last four years, he hasn’t coached.

Not 100 percent sure why, but we dug up something that could be a clue.

Bates was with the Jets as QB coach in 2005.

That was a disastrous year for the Jets who went through quarterbacks like lottery tickets, using five different quarterbacks, and finished 4-12.

When the Jets hired Bates this week, a former Jets executive shared some memories on Facebook.

“Did you see Jets just hired Jeremy Bates, as I recall he was bad news when he was part of Herm Edwards staff,” said the former Jets staffer. “Didn’t he punch out a wall or throw something at someone, can’t remember the specifics but I remember he was not very well liked and his stay was short.”

I’m not going to name the person who posted this because the guy is retired and doesn’t need the aggravation of becoming part of the story, but I know the guy, and he’s a serious, smart person, so I trust his perspective.

Another Jets employee responded to the guy’s post by adding, “He went after me one day too. I believe that was the last day he was in the building.”

I don’t know that second person as well as the first person, so I don’t know what to make of that anecdote.

But the first person is somebody I’ve known for a LONG time, and if he says it, I believe it.

Let me add this – the Facebook people were talking about him not being there long, but keep in mind, Edwards was fired after that season, and so was his staff, so Bates left and so did a lot of other people.

So perhaps you can surmise that Bates had an anger management issue of some kind, and perhaps that led to the gap in his coaching career.

But Bates, a former Rice University QB, has a good reputation as a QB coach, and perhaps he’s in a better place now.

Let’s connect the dots on why he landed in Florham Park.

The Jets’ new offensive coordinator, John Morton, wanted him.

In 2009, Morton was named USC’s offensive coordinator. Bates was also on that staff, and they worked closely together on the play-calling. Morton called the plays from a booth upstairs, and Bates, on the field, relayed them to the quarterback.

Carroll must have been awfully impressed with Bates, because he took him with him to the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 to be his offensive coordinator. Bates was fired after one season. He was out of the league again for a year, but then resurfaced in Chicago for one year, but then was fired with the whole staff after the 2012 season, and then his four-year gap started.

Here is another connection that helped Bates get the Jets job. When Bates worked for the Jets in 2005, the team’s offensive coordinator was the late Mike Heimerdinger. The Jets’ current director of player personnel is Brian Heimerdinger, who wields a lot of power in the Jets’ organization. He was another supporter of Bates.

I’m a strong believer in second chances.

This guy is considered a heck of a QB coach.

Perhaps the four years out of the league were a wake-up call.

We will see.

August 8, 2017

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